Monday, December 24, 2012

Olympic versus Iron

On Sunday, between wrapping presents, running 9k, burning DVDs full of wedding photos we took last weekend and painting my nails Big Apple Red in honour of the holidays, Doug and I watched a documentary on the Kona Ironman in Hawaii.

Good lord.

I like to think that I know what it feels like to swim really hard - if only for 100m. And bike really hard - up the 9th street hill. And run really hard - for 5k.

I also like to think that I know what it feels like to really push through and finish a triathlon. By push through I mean I feel crappy during the run, I'm pretty tired by the end and happy to be done. Not like this kind of push through...


More like I just wanted to stop but didn't. No ambulances were needed during my triathlons - thank goodness. 

Watching that documentary was awesome. Really it was. I know enough to know that I have nowhere near the strength, perseverance, sheer will and crazyness that it takes to do an ironman. I don't know if I ever will. 

I also know that the half marathons and triathlons I do manage to finish seem like the Kona Ironman to my non athletic friends. Unbelievable and seemingly unattainable. 

And yet not. 

The biggest lesson from that documentary was that people can indeed push beyond their barriers - real and imagined. 

The second biggest lesson was that the Ironman is really really hard and the training and dedication needed is all-encompassing. 

So no, I will not be training and signing up for an Ironman in 2013.

But I will be setting my sights on the Olympic distance triathlon. 

Not nearly the Ironman distance but farther than the sprint triathlons I did last year. Far enough that I feel the need to plan ahead, set the goal and create a training plan. 

2013 - the year of the Olympic triathlon. 

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic! You're going to be great at the Olypmic distance.

    It's amazing how once you've done an Olympic, you realize you can pretty easily do a half-ironman. Then... who knows?

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